Conveyors of the type in question are used in many different applications. Such a one is in animal farming such as of, e.g., cattle and pigs. In such an application, it is previously known to form animal-farming spaces with movable floor, with the floor consisting of such a conveyor for the removal of the dung and/or feed of fodder. Consequently, in this application the conveyor has a considerable width and is driven slowly and intermittently. A conveyor in such an application is disclosed, e.g., in WO 02/071836.
In many cases, a conveyor running over a drum shows a tendency of being displaced laterally along the same. Occasionally, large forces are required in order to counteract this and hold the belt in place. It may be particularly difficult if the belt is wide and of steel, as usual in the application mentioned above. Measures in order to, in that way, retain the belt may become cost-demanding and cause friction loss and belt wear. Another possibility is to let the drum rotate in the opposite direction at regular intervals, a laterally retrograde motion of the belt being obtained. The disadvantage, though, is that the conveyor trails in a backward motion in the conveying direction.
In these circumstances, the object of the present invention is to provide a drive device for a conveyor of the kind in question and a method for driving such a one that brings about correction of the lateral position of the belt on the drum without the occurrence of the disadvantages pointed out above.